I'll Pay You To Shoot Her
by a62belle
Summary: When Melinda May is killed by Charlene Kensington, John Garrett's lover, Ward seeks revenge. Mayward. Skoulson. AU because Ward loves May in this story.
1. Chapter 1

It stings, the fact that he never got to explain himself. Never got to say sorry. Never got to say goodbye.

He never loved Skye. He simply owed everything to Garrett, so when Garrett told him to pretend he fell in love with Skye for Hydra, he did it., so convincingly he even managed to cheat Lorelei. When Garrett told him to kill Melinda May, he told himself to do it. But he couldn't. Because he loved her more than anything in this world.

But she hated him. Hated his guts. Would have killed him if not for the fact that, just like Skye, she was a soft touch inside.

He sees how helpless she is, him restrained by a revived Garrett as Garrett's lover, ex-ally of Natasha Romanov, Charlene Kensington, empties the whole magazine of dendrotoxin into Melinda's head. How she slumped to the ground. Lifeless.

It isn't fair. She didn't even get the chance to protect herself. Never got around to saying goodbye to Coulson.

Ward hates him, Coulson. From day one, he knew May had fallen head over heels for the smug, classy, man-in-a-suit Phillip Coulson. He was the one barrier, so Ward thinks, between him, May and happiness. Other the fact he is, or rather was, Hydra. Now, there's a worse barrier. Melinda May's dead. There's no more T.A.H.I.T.I. to save her. It's the end of the road.

Garrett and Rogers knock Ward out and throw him in some desert. Death Valley, it seems. They then retreat to a room for their own pleasure. When Ward wakes up he's sore, hot, and with an unfamiliar aching sadness in his heart.

He goes to Rosie's Desert Oasis and orders a Zombie, the strongest drink on their menu.

Somewhere in the hazed thoughts of alcohol, there's a detailed plan for revenge.

He drinks as much as possible to dull the pain inside. But it's not that easy to heal and it crumbles all his defences of 15 1/2 years.

For the first time in his life, Grant Douglas Ward is experiencing heartbreak.

* * *

"Who 's the victim?" Detective Kate Beckett asks as she walks quickly down the alley way with her fiancee, Richard Castle.

"Name's Melinda Qiao Lian May, age 50, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., specialist," Exposito says as he walks past Ryan to pass Beckett the badge which is already stored in an evidence bag.

Beckett groans. S.H.I.E.L.D. has gained a reputation for being extraordinarily rigid about about investigations concerning it's members, ex-members, enemies and allies. She's heard quite a lot of horror stories about the crew at the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially one Phillip Coulson and Skye, they said she was so terrifying they didn't even dare get her surname. Stories of their impatience, hot temper, and a quick willingness to throw entire teams out of their plane flirted around the NYPD. A S.H.I.E.L.D. related case is the detective's worse fear.

"When was the time of death, Lanie?" Beckett asks, steadying herself.

"I'm not sure, there's such a high amount of what seems to be a toxin in her blood that it is impossible to determine a time of death. She's obviously been given a toxin, by the skin de-colouration, but there's no entry wound so she might have drunk it, " she replies.

"She died approximately 7 hours ago, of an overdosed amount of a dendrotoxin in our I.C.E.R. technology," says a quiet voice from behind.

A stoic, middle-aged man, of average height, balding slightly, wearing a suit entered the crime scene without anyone noticing, behind him is an entire team.

"Name's Phillip Coulson, I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," He holds his hand out which Beckett shakes apprehensively. This is it, she thinks, I'm so dead. Of all people S.H.I.E.L.D. could send down, the notorious director has to make an appearance, I just hope his more notorious partner hasn't come along.

"This is Agent Antoine Triplett," he says, gesturing to the African-American man in t-shirt at jeans closest to him, "my specialist, Agent Jemma Simmons," he gestures to a british woman, with brown-blonde hair in a ponytail, "my bio-chemist," he wishes his next introduction is Leopold Fitz, but he's just recovered from his near-death experience, and Doctor Simmons insisted he stay off the field for a couple months, instead, he gestures to his hacktivist, an eurasian woman with wavy brown hair just reaching her shoulders and an encouraging look on her face, "and the hacktivist, Skye," he finishes.

Beckett is stunned, she certainly wasn't expecting someone so young or so friendly looking, but looks can be deceiving.

"Oh my gosh. Mr Castle! Kevin! I haven't seen you guys in years!" Skye exclaims, rushing forward to hug them.

"Mary-Sue Poots. Is that really you?" Kevin asks, as he hugs her.

"Uhm, need some catch-up here," Beckett snaps sarcastically.

'Skye's an orphan," Coulson attempts to explain, "I suppose they've met before."

"Not helping," she snaps again, she wants to test that famous temper of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Castle took me in for a summer, and Kevin Ryan was my brother for four weeks," Skye explains, before turning around and seeing May's slightly tinted blue body, "Oh. My. God," she gasps, very breathless.

I wonder what's all this nonsense about them being terrifying monsters, Beckett thinks.

"I'm sorry," Skye apologises as the tears stream down their face, "It's not like me to be emotional. It's just, May was out strong protector against Ward, a traitor, and now she's gone, just like that."

"It's why we need to handle this in-house," Coulson explains, "this is a case of deeply personal nature to us."

Beckett nods but she knows she cannot give up the case so easily. Suddenly five more people join the crowd.

"Phil! How one earth are you here!" a voice rings out.

Suddenly, Phillip Coulson finds himself facing the Avengers, whom he realises still thought him dead.

"Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce, Steve and Thor, why are you here?" Coulson says desperately, trying not to leak Level 10 secrets in front of non-S.H.I.E.L.D. members.

"We all received anonymous tips of the murder of Melinda May, she's an old friend, you know," Natasha explains, "we didn't think we'd meet a zombie too," she jokes.

Up above on the rooftop, armed with an I.C.E.R., Grant Ward smirked. There was no doubt he was the tip-off. I'll make them pay, he thinks, make them pay for taking out the only love of my life. I just hope all the authorities involved do not kill each other off before they capture May's murderer.

"Skye, check the Rising Tide members, make sure there haven't been any security leaks, we'll need to find this tip-off person," Coulson says with urgency.

"AC, I don't mean to be rude, but May's killer is much more important," Skye points out, to the amusement of Beckett.

"Of course, I just don't want to have to deal with another Miles Lydon," he says, hands in his pocket, a sad smile on his face.

"Now, AC," Clint says with a sly smile on his face, "don't think we're not going to find out about you surviving your death without a drink or two."

"I'm on duty, Barton," he replies, "Melinda's dead, I think you might want to show a bit more respect."

"No, go on AC," Skye cuts in, "enjoy yourself while you can, I'll handle the investigations here."

Coulson nods, before being pushed away by the Avengers.

"Who's Miles Lydon?" Esposito quips as soon as Coulson leaves.

"Long story, do you think you can forfeit the bo...body of May to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Skye manages to choke out.

Seeing how important this is to Skye, Beckett nods without input from any of her team.

Up above, tens of feet above them, Grant Ward grimaces at the sight of Coulson leaving. Bastard, he thinks, she loved you and yet you leave on the day she dies for a party? His plan has gone awry, he would not have thought The Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. and NYPD combined to be so incompetent. If he is to avenge May he must do it by himself, he can not rely on the help of the government. It is shocking how clear-headed he is despite the alcohol. Love defies all.

Down at the ground, a stretcher is being prepared for the transportation of May's body to the Bus for autopsy. Jemma looks at the mysterious woman she's always respected as a superior but never found as a friend. Only now, when she's gone forever does Jemma realise what a pillar of support she was for the whole team, and how much she'd loved each and every one of them.

"Mr. Castle, Kevin, will we meet again soon?" Skye asks in her best Director voice.

"Yes, I hope so, maybe we can arrange for you and Alexa to meet soon, you were close friends back then," Castle says, to Skye's agreement.

* * *

Both Coulson and Skye are in his office, sitting on his bed.

"I can't believe she's really gone," she says, "I know it's cliche, but you really don't know you love someone until you let them go."

She sobs into his shoulder while Coulson gently wraps his arms around her. She needs the comfort, he thinks, so you better no break down. You're the rock they cling to in the storm, don't you dare dislodge yourself!

"It's going to be alright, Skye, May will be avenged," he whispers, very much wanting to believe that himself.

"Do you think they're going to find out about us?" Skye asks, worried. Their relationship is certainly a very inappropriate one.

"No, they'll be too worried over May's murder," Coulson replies, pecking her on the lips.

* * *

Hundreds of miles away, a very pretty woman named Charlene Kensington sits beside a very exhausted Garrett.

"You going to tell me why you ordered that hit on May? She's a bit cold-hearted, that's true, but she is very clever, that much you can't deny that. With a little conditioning she could make an excellent Hydra agent," Charlene offers.

"The boy, Ward, he's grown too attached to her. We can't have an agent who's worried about an agent of the opposite side, so we have to take down anybody he's ever held any emotional standing for," Garrett explains, lying down once more to sleep.

Charlene accepts the explanation, No-one else has gotten one more satisfactory, but she likes to play with a much more dangerous idea; that, once upon a time, John Garrett had loved someone other than her, and she had broken his heart. Probably why he hated Phillip Coulson so much.

John Garrett had loved Melinda May.

* * *

Ward doesn't understand why he, of all people, has to be the one living like this. He checks into a skeevy motel, best room available and lies calmly on the bed. He orders room service,the only reason why he decided to put up in such a motel, when he has more than enough money to sustain himself for half a year at a posher place, is that the motel has an exceptional bar. He drinks more and more of the Zombie.

Grant Ward, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Grant Ward, Agent of Hydra, both weren't drinkers. Grant Ward, Agent of unrequited love is a whole other story. While nursing his fourth bottle, he composes another anonymous tip-off that will send all three teams, NYPD, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers on trail of Charlene Kensington and John Garrett. He no longer feels any allegiance to them. He might have owed Garrett everything, but his dept is paid since the love of his life was taken. Grant Douglas Ward, Agent of Nothing believes very strongly in the concept of soulmate. By his sixth bottle his e-mail is sent via an anonymous e-mail account that will take Skye maybe a week or two to trace. No problem. He hopes Charlene will be dead by then.

Preferably John Garrett as well, but Ward knows the difference between a good hope and a foolish one.

* * *

Skye receives the tip-off immediately, pressing to play the video,watching it while in Coulson's lap. They immediately task Fitz with finding out the last known location of Charlene, as well as notifying the Avengers and the NYPD.

"Shouldn't I be helping him?" Skye asks, raising her eyebrows.

"But there are things I'd rather have you do right now," he says, pushing her down on the bed, offering a full-hearted kiss.

In a few minutes, both their jackets are off, but very little else, preferring to stay that way.

They seem to forget that there's a window at the side of the office, a horrified Triplett watching their every provocative move.


	2. Chapter 2

"Director, sir?" he asks, his words offering a hint of hesitation, but his tone being that of disgust and firmness. How dare he? Melinda May was a long-time friend of his, he'd reason to believe that May had fallen in love with him, and she was dead for less than half a day and instead of mourning, understanding the love he's lost, he's here making out, enjoying himself with a junior agent.

Skye moves off Coulson, keeping a safe distance away from both the men, putting on her jacket.

"Yes, Agent Triplett?" He says, calmly, sitting up straight, like Triplett had just popped him to ask him about a mission instead of having caught him making out with a subordinate.

Bastard, Triplett thinks, is this man serious? Pretending not to know what I'm talking about when it's perfectly obvious. He's obviously done something wrong, probably had too much to drink when he was out with the Avengers, he'd expected him to be repentant, or at least go with the 'it's not what you think it is' excuse.

"I think you know what I'm talking about?" he says, crossing his arms.

"Does it concern you, Agent Triplett?" he asks coldly, "If not, I'd prefer it to stay classified as 'personal'."

"Oh don't get me started on per-" he starts just as Skye cuts in.

"Okay, you guys can settle this at your own time later, right now, I've just received another of those anonymous tip-offs," Skye says, showing us her computer I didn't even know she'd taken out.

Coulson nods approvingly to her.

"Still anonymous?" he asks, casually.

"Yep, this one's just coordinates. I'll run the location services to find out where we're headed now," she says. After a short, tense few minutes of silence and Triplett's glaring at Coulson, she returns with a grin, "the coordinates place us in a aerial landing area just a hundred miles or so away from New York."

"Great work," Coulson says with a grin, and then, in a much colder tone, "Triplett, care to do the honors?"

Triplett nods, he'd held May in extremely high regard, was his S.H.I.E.L.D. role model long before Garrett, even though they'd never met, and he's willing to do anything to avenge May's death. Even more, to his ideas, than Coulson.

"Told you they were gonna find out," Skye says, slightly sarcastic and really disappointed at the wrongness of Coulson's words.

"I'd locked the door! Triplett must have seen us through a window," he argues back playfully, trying to keep his grief at bay, "but you're right. Let's go prepare ourselves for meeting May's murderer. Got to be on our A game."

But Skye reads the sadness in his eyes perfectly, deciding to let it slide.

*Damn those idiots, Ward thinks as he's positioned perfectly behind a bush, irritated at the fact the NYPD had switched on their sirens, alerting Garrett's radar and giving them a ten-minutes head-start.

Don't get him wrong, he always knew that the authorities were a bit fucked up.

But he'd never known they were this fucked up.

The team takes three minutes to get there.

"Apparently, the tip-off was more of a red herring," Detective Beckett says, grimly upon meeting Coulson.

"I've a feeling it's more than that," he says,

Coulson enters the airplane immediately and Skye accesses the security footage in a blink of an eye.

Fortunately, Kensington and Garrett didn't have time to delete the footage of them leaving in the first place so Skye manages to track it down in under two minutes alongside a clip of them basically admitting to the murder.

"I was under the impression we were working together on this," he says coldly at Detective Beckett.

"Me too" she says casually.

"I've a feeling we need to discuss this. You think you can make it to the Bus in an hour?" he says as coolly as possible even though Skye, knowing him too well, can sense the expertly controlled anger at the NYPD for letting May's murderers slip away.

"The Bus?" she asks, obviously puzzled.

"Our airplane," Coulson explains impatiently.

So that's the notorious plane that they supposedly enjoy throwing people off, Beckett thinks.

"Of course, Castle, do you think you could spare me for a few days?" she asks, obviously intending to go without his permission, so he simply nods.

Beckett boards the Bus with a duffel bag of a week's supplies.

"Agent Skye," Coulson says in an extremely formal way that unnerves everyone on the bus, "Would you care to show Detective Beckett her room?"

Skye moves over towards him, whispering in a highly confidential tone, too low for Beckett to hear. "We don't have an extra bunk."

"Sif's old room," he whispers back, obviously meaning the Cage.

"Of course, Detective Beckett, if you'll please follow me," Skye says, a grin on her face as she ushers the detective to her hyper-reinforced room.

Beckett smells a rat immediately, Skye is too courteous, Coulson too formal for this to be any more than a charade. Despite having spent less than an hour with them in total, she's seen enough of both to know Skye as a informal not-afraid-to-tell-the-truth type of girl and Coulson, well, while naturally formal was at least a bit more personable.

She sits on the bed and waits, feeling every bit as if she's walking into a trap.

"Skye, if you'll give me a moment," Triplett says, catching up with her while she walks to her bunk.

"What's the matter Trip?" she asks, as coolly as possible, knowing very well what this conversation is going to be about.

"I can't help but want to ask about you and the director. Is there anything we should know?" He asks, firmly and full of intent.

"I don't know Trip," she says sarcastically, "It's a highly personal affair that you should really ask Director Coulson about one-on-one the next time you see him," with that, she slams the bunk door in his face.

"Detective Beckett," Coulson says coldly as he walks into the cage, bolting the door behind him.

"I'm sorry, am I in trouble?" she asks straight-forwardly, willing herself not to think other thoughts.

"Considering your little sirens caused me to lose the murderers of one of my long-time agents, you can see why I'm so pissed off," he says, towering over her even though she's much taller.

"Guess you really liked that agent, huh," Beckett guesses, feeling revolted by herself. That was Castle's line, not hers.

"I'm sorry?" he asks, leaning back slightly so he looks less intimidating.

"She was your girlfriend, partner, fiancee, wife?" she asks immediately. Another Castle line.

"None of the above, I already have a girlfriend and partner," he confesses, sliding into the chair opposite Beckett.

"Who is?" she probes further. If I'm to work with this team for a week or so, Beckett thinks, I must know it's dynamics.

He looks at her, "I'm not here to discuss my personal life. I'm here to figure out why you completely screwed up our May investigation."

"I just followed protocol," she replies with a similar tone of detachment that Coulson's been sporting.

"You're damn protocol lost us our murderers!" He shouts, suddenly emotional. So that's the temper the whole of the NYPD's been gossiping about, Beckett thinks.

But unconsciously, she knows it's the reflex of finally accepting that someone he loves is dead, she's been through it way too many times, she's been through it herself. Maybe he doesn't know it, but he must have really loved her to have this type of reaction, she thinks From what Beckett gathers, he's usually extremely cool and collected person.

"Don't you have any protocol to abide by?" she asks, in a distinctively May manner that stuns Coulson for a while.

Yeah, protocol. Like administering T.A.H.I.T.I. to any fallen 'avenger'. Need I remind anybody how that turned out?

"Considering we're a newly re-instated organisation, we have very few, especially ridiculous ones like switching on the sirens. I'll let it slide, for now. But, god help me, if you lose me our murderers again, I'm throwing you off this plane sans parachute!" he threatens, as he unlocks the door and leaves, slamming it.

So that's the famous S.H.I.E.L.D. temper the entire NYPD talks about.

"Sir," Triplett says with venom, waiting for Coulson at the corridor of the Bunks, on the way to the staircase that leads to Coulson's room, "I have to warn you, what you did with Skye is strictly against protocol-"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me! May's murderers just slipped away and here you're talking to me about me and Skye! If you can't put away your personal opinions, you shouldn't be here! Go to Simmons and see if you can be any help, instead of the nuisance you've been recently," he says agitatedly, staring to the ground as he walks off.

Triplett stands paralysed there, what'd happened to the Coulson knew to be professional, good, easy-tempered man who gave second, third, fourth chances?

Coulson crashes to another body.

"God damn it! How many people are going to be so irrespon-" he curses as he looks up.

"What's up Phil?" she asks, comfortingly taking his arm.

"Sorry," he mumbles as he leans into his arms, knees bent slightly making him seem much shorter than her.

She just smiles sadly, looking up at Triplett, with a what-the-hell-were-you-doing glare as she leads the man in her arms into the bunk, slowly shutting the door behind her.

Triplett decides to go to his bunk. Looking at Coulson, Skye and May just makes him wonder what's up with his luck with ladies. After Fitz (heroically, no doubt, Triplett really admired him for that) sacrificed himself, it just sealed the fact that Fitzsimmons would forever be Fitzsimmons and never Trimmons and still stung like hell.

When he switches on his laptop, and is surprised when he gets a Google Hangouts invitation. Deliberating for a while, he decides to accept it, knowing very well Skye had encrypted such transmissions so that the other side can't track his location.

"Hello Triplett, how's the team been?" says a familiar voice, matched with a too-familiar face that he'd very much like to never hear again, "I was wondering if you could help me, a bit."

Coulson slumps onto Skye's bunk.

"I'm not a good man Skye," he says, tears streaming down his face.

"Don't say this. The last time anyone said that, he turned out to be a Hydra mass-murderer spy-person. I...I don't know what'd I do if you're Hydra," Skye confesses.

"I'm not," he says sharply before softening, "but May's dead, Skye. I think I'm right to say I loved her, but I don't feel anything. Like, absolutely nothing, no sadness, no grief, just uncontrollable anger. I'm angry ALL THE TIME!" he rages, punching into Skye's bunk.

"Shh, shh," Skye consoles, gripping onto his wrists with a tightness, holding on to them very much like she did when he was still in Raina's machine, "It's your body's defense mechanism, it doesn't make you a bad person."

Moving her body slightly to sit on the bed, she embraces Coulson easily, just like he'd done every single time.

"I'm sorry, Skye. I'm your boyfriend, I'm supposed to give you support at this difficult time, not cry into your arms," he whispers into her elbow.

"Your long-time confidante is dead," she replies back comfortingly, "I think you've the right to a few hours of weakness."

They don't let go for a long time.

"What the hell are you doing Ward!" Triplett shouts at the live stream of the man he hates in front of him.

"Tone down! Do you want to get caught? I'm the anonymous tip-off person who gave you all the info on May's murder, so you'd damn well listen to me," he replies agitatedly in a confidential tone, "I need you to be my update agent. I've the schedules and such of Garrett and Kensington but after the stupid NYPD screwed that op up, I decided I need a fresh new pair of eyes."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Triplett asks, he's not usually suspicious, but you can't be too careful with Hydra.

"Because I've given you crucial help in the May investigation?" he snips back, "Just give me frequent updates on the investigation so I can know what info to give who."

"Fine," Triplett relents, knowing what he's doing but since the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. himself can't seem to give a damn about May's investigation, he has to take over.

"Thanks, I owe you one," he says, looking almost like Ward, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., instead of Agent of Hydra.

"Oh, trust me, you're going to owe me way more than that," Triplett says, sighing.

"Hmm," Garrett mutters as he looks at the Avengers, all assembled before him, "have you managed to do what I set you out to do?"

"Yes, sir," they say in unison.

"What'd you think, Charlene? You think they managed to distract Coulson enough?" He asks, grinning.

"Not bad," she says, "Did you manage to do what I told you to do with Beckett as well?"

"Yes ma'am," Romanov says with a haunting undertone, "I snuck into her house and poured your drug into her water."

"The effects should start working in a couple hours, I honestly can't wait to watch the team," Charlene says.

"Well, I guess an easy job can be fun as well," Garrett says, laughing, relishing the weakness in the team that he'll exploit in just a while.


	3. Chapter 3

After forever (though it feels only like a few seconds), Coulson gets out of Skye's embrace.

"Hey, I'll make sure Trip doesn't bother you again, kay?" Skye says, smiling softly as he leaves the bunk.

"It's okay. We owe him an explanation anyway," Coulson says, opening the door and shutting it softly, leaving Skye in her bunk. She picks up her laptop.

Garrett was a trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Charlene Kensington has to be a trained assassin to be able to do May in.

They won't be easy to fine, but, then again, they're only be expecting the usual S.H.I.E.L.D. exploits, not a Skye one.

And she'll be damned if she is going to let May's murderers walk, especially since they were so close before.

Suddenly, she has an instinct to go to the restroom besides her bunk. She doesn't need to use it, but she just has a nagging feeling in her brain that something is happening, and so she goes.

She prefers to have been saved the sight.

Coulson walks calmly to the stairs, but as he clambers up the spiral staircase, there's a sudden weak feeling in his knees.

Steadily moving down, he would run if he could run, walking as quickly as he can to the bathroom beside Skye's bunk, retching immediately into the sink, toppling onto the floor besides the shower.

Skye finds him there, sitting at the corner of the wall and the transparent border of the shower, vomiting into the waste-paper basket next to him.

She crouches beside him, patting his back gently before easing him to lean on the wall. Skye winces when she takes a piece of tissue paper to wipe the blood off his lips. There's blood in the vomit too.

"Oh my god, A.C., you okay?" she asks, "What am I saying, of course you're not okay, I'll call Jemma."

"No," he rasps weakly, grabbing Skye's hand, "What if it's something to do with GH-325? We can't let them know of the 'new developments'" , he continues, weaker, referring to them finding out the side-effects of T.A.H.I.T.I.

"Then we definitely need to find Jemma," she says, wrenching her hand out of his quickly, leaving him.

Jemma arrives very quickly.

"Okay, uhm, the symptoms seem to be unlike anything I've ever seen, so we'll put you on a bed and I'll take a bit of blood to run tests," Jemma says, as calmly as possible.

"It's not possible," Skye says, staring into the eyes of the cowering biochemist in front of her. Skye doesn't know what's gotten into her, she's just terrifying all of a sudden, terrifying herself.

"I'm sorry Skye, but it's something I've never seen before, possibly created by genetically blending two dominant viruses with one subordinate one and calculating the improbability of genetic immunity..." Jemma begins.

"Time. Do you know what could've caused this?" Skye snaps, irritated at her friend. Strange, she's never been that irritable before.

"No," Jemma confesses, "It's unlike any natural, earthly viruses."

"Is it Alien?" Skye asks, sucking her breath, eyes open wide, even more terrified than she was two minutes ago.

"No, the individual components are of Earth, but it's a combination I've never seen before. Which means there's only one possible alternative. It's a man-made disease, Jemm explains, not at all helping.

"It's man-made?" Skye asks.

Jemma nods her head slightly, "Experimented with that a lot in my second year. We took a few well known strains of illnesses and attempted to disassemble them to their bare genetic components, for more accurate study. Unfortunately, none of the experiments were successful. What they've done here is breathtaking, they've created a new, biological virus! It's a phenomenon! But also terribly tragic," she adds, at the look of Skye's face, "Fitz and I found a reacting agent so we can test everyone to make sure they weren't infected. If that's the case, it's best for us to quarantine them."

Skye nods, "Team, emergency meeting."

"What's happened over there?" the man on the screen asks immediately, a worried expression etched into his face.

"I've to go," Triplett says, "E-mail me before you hang me out again, you nearly gave me a heart-attack."

Agent Grant Ward stares at him, "I don't have time for joking, Triplett."

Triplett has a double-take. Of course, he hadn't expected Agent Grant Ward of Hydra to be an exact copy of Agent Grant Ward of S.H.I.E.L.D., but he hadn't expected such a one-eighty. Sure, he'd always been quiet, but not curt-to-the-point-of-May.

"Of course not," Triplett answers, before leaving for the Briefing Room.

They say you get used to the terror.

Skye knows for a fact that it's not true.

You, unless you're a Ward, she thinks bitterly, never get used to the fact that people you've worked with might just die all of a sudden.

Skye moves towards the Cage.

"Medical Protocol, 3-4-1, we need you in the Briefing room," she says as briskly as possible, leading the detective to the mentioned place.

"Where's the Director?" Triplett asks immediately, quirking his eyebrows suspiciously

The absence is rather conspicuous.

"As of now, I am the Director," Skye says, and, noticing the doubting looks, explains the situation.

It takes all of ten minutes to brief the team and have them settle down.

"So you're telling me Director Coulson may be in critical condition?" Triplett asks immediately, leaning subtly across table in his shoch.

"Yep," Skye says, biting her lip, turning to the ridiculously silent Detective standing in a inconspicuous way.

"Any other questions?" Skye asks, as firmly as she can. Coulson would know what to do if he was here, Skye thinks, it wouldn't be easier for him, but he would be able to know what to say to appease the team.

And, honestly, she would go through a thousand times worse if it meant the man she loved wasn't on the medical bed, suffering.

"Yes, who's in charge now?" Detective Beckett asks, walking with a firmness that said quite obviously she thought she was the woman for the job.

"That remains to be seen. We know very little about the virus. We need to test everybody first. We will choose the leader out of those uninfected," Skye says, trying to hide the fear in her voice. Choosing a leader out of the uninfected sounds very much like a zombie apocalypse.

Beckett nods slightly.

The team watches with awe. Two lionesses fighting for the throne. When Coulson was around, there was no debate, he was obviously the man for the job, the one who knew what to do in every event.

How much shit is a man supposed to take? Triplett thinks. First May, peace-maker supreme, a respected, unkillable, undefeatable heroine dies at the hands of a Hydra assassin. Next, he catches the Director making out with the junior agent (technically deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) just hours after the death of his 'girlfriend'. Never mind, he still respected the Director for his leadership and tactical skills, even if he had some qualms about his morality. Now, the Director is incapacitated, the leadership is sought after by an experienced NYPD detective that had messed up their murder investigation and an ex-Rising Tide hacker, the very junior agent making out with the Director, who, despite this, is trusted and definitely better for the entire synergy of the team.

He doesn't even know who to support.

He's standing in a straight line with the rest of the team, Jemma scans him with an infra-red and clears him.

He's terrified when he realises who's been infected.

Detective Kate Beckett.

And

Deputy Director Skye.


	4. Chapter 4

It's been 4 hours, according to the clock in the over-sized medical pod they cart around.

Skye despises it, this room. Don't get her wrong, it's spacious, it's comfortable.

A.C. is unconscious in a bed next to her, one can't help but hate the room.

Jemma bangs on the door before walking in excitedly.

"Jemma, what are you doing? We don't know if it's contagious! You could get infected!" Skye shouts at her, backing away as much as possible.

"I've figured out how it's transferred! Once we find an antiserum we can save Director Coulson, but you guys an return to active duty for quite some time!" Jemma says excitedly.

"Any other news?" Beckett says, curious, walking towards Jemma, mirroring Skye's movements, saying exactly what she wanted to say.

"Yes, both of you have a much, much weaker strain of the virus. The only symptoms of the illness so far will be a slight mood swing, you will only suffer mild versions of Director Coulson's attacks in at least a couple weeks, possibly even ever, by then we'll find a cure. The testing I've done so far show you're not even carriers! But we'd better keep you quarantined for a few more hours just to be sure. Director Coulson, on the other hand, has contacted a much more severe strain, perhaps even direct contact with it's source," Jemma says, unnaturally excited.

"How did we get infected?" Beckett steals the words out of Skye's mouth once more.

"Well, this illness is contracted through bodily fluids. Blood, sweat...saliva," Jemma says, wincing like it's a swear word, looking very much like she usually does when she's about to deliver bad news, "there's DNA evidence both of you contracted the illness via Director Coulson, and, your strain of the illness was passed on through...saliva," she says.

They stare at each other in shock, both understanding it's implications.

"I'm sorry, I'll let both of you have a moment," Jemma says, quickly leaving the room.

"I hope you know that me and Director Coulson, we never-" Detective Beckett says quickly, as Skye moves towards A.C.'s bed, sitting next to him.

"I know. A.C.'s a good man, he would never do that, especially to someone who he's just met," Skye says, looking at him, unconsciously moving her hand towards him and stroking his forehead.

Beckett nods, it isn't hard for her to find out who Director Coulson was talking about when he had threatened her.

"It's nice, knowing someone believes in you no matter how many odds are stacked against your favor," she says, breaking the silence.

"Don't you have someone like that, too? I have to congratulate you for your engagement to Mr. Castle," Skye says, turning towards the detective.

She looks away, "You see why I'm appreciative of true love. By the way, how'd you know?"

Skye gives her a look.

"If A.C. was awake, he'd tell you I am a hacker after all. You seriously need to build up better firewalls for your database," Skye says, as playfully as possible.

Not exactly particularly playful.

What a cute dynamic, Beckett thinks, too bad the US forces have other ideas. Too bad the NYPD really wants this case.

"Jemma, where're you?" Fitz asks through his intercom.

"In the lab, you might not want to come. Autopsy of Melinda May," Jemma says as clinically as possible.

Clinical is good. It's better than emotional at any rate.

"Coming down immediately," Fitz says, dashing down. He knows Jemma well enough to understand the impact Melinda May had had on his best friend.

It takes him twenty-six seconds to get into the lab.

"You sure you want to come?" she asks, "I know what you think about the smell."

"She's Melinda, Jemma. I need to be around," he says firmly.

Jemma nods, extracting a small amount of blood to study in her microscope.

"This is strange, from the tip-off we received, I originally thought it was merely the ICER, but that couldn't have outwitted Melinda May. Now, I can see similarities between the makeup of May's blood and the saliva-induced virus. It was apparently given to her a little at a time, over a period of, say, three to six months, left alone for while to become dormant and weakened her in that crucial live-or-die moment," Jemma explains, "We don't know how long Director Coulson has had the virus in his bloodstream. It could be just for a couple days or for the last forty years. This is still Science we know very little about."

Fitz agrees, thinking about the last time he'd heard anybody say that.

He'd said it to Grant Ward, Agent of Hydra.

He turns on a computer nearby, surfing something up.

A hunch, if he could call it that.

He would tell Skye, but it'd make her think him an Agent of Hydra.

And he can't afford that.

She'd known, of course she'd known.

Jemma was the smartest person ever to walk through the S.H.I.E.L.D. gates. Of course she'd known all along that May had had that virus in her body.

She just couldn't afford to let someone know, to let someone find out. She needed the blood to run her tests, conduct her experiments.

May had gone to her office a few weeks ago, feeling a little under the weather.

Mood swings she'd attributed to Ward. Vomiting she'd attributed to stress. But when the symptoms grew to obvious to ignore, she'd decided to go straight to Jemma. Not even to Coulson, something which had amused Jemma greatly. She'd assumed they told each other everything.

May had a much more serious version of the illness and Jemma had put her timeline down to about three years before her death.

May had simply nodded, accepted it, asking Jemma to remain secretive about it, because she didn't want Coulson to worry.

Jemma'd never felt so helpless in her life, to feel a good friend slipping away slowly but surely, for reasons unknown.

Apparently, the enemy had grown bored of waiting.

They'd decided to take the queen out of the chessboard.

All while Jemma stood in the shadows, keeping May's secret.

Ward lies down on his motel bed. It's been tiring, interesting yes, but tiring. Seeking revenge is much harder than throwing the first punch.

He's tired of keeping the schedule from the NYPD. Tired of being busy tracking down the Avengers.

Tired of having to keep the fact the Avengers are under mind-control of Hydra from S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.

Suddenly, his phone displays a text message.

Report for duty at 0530.

He sighs and packs his bag, tired out, worn but not backing down.

He will not rest until May's murderer is brought to justice.

Triplett receives the sudden video call offer and accepts it, seeing the used face of Grant Ward once more.

Suddenly, the door slams open.

"Agent Triplett. Why are you in contact with known Hydra Persons?" Skye asks venomously.

How she found out is her own secret.


	5. Chapter 5

**9 Years Ago. Unknown Highschool**

"Miss Nathan," a young Skye walks into the computer lab, where she sees the teacher she admires most.

The woman smiles. She is, officially, a music teacher, but her skills in computers aren't to be dismissed.

"Skye," she says, smiling.

And Skye has a full hour of paradise, learning the workings of the computer, learning the different systems.

A month later, she gets returned to St. Agnes.

Before she leaves, she and Miss Nathan exchange e-mail addresses.

"Call me Audrey," Miss Nathan had said, as she walked out of the computer lab one final time.

They e-mail each other for the longest of times, until Skye gets mixed up with the Rising Tide, and Audrey joins the Portland Symphony.

They don't talk for four years, so Skye doesn't learn of Phil Coulson, of his death, until after Marcus Daniels.

**Three Months Ago**

Hello, Skye.

Skye finds the e-mail on her laptop, shocked to find it's an e-mail address she hasn't heard from in a long time.

She immediately decides to 'hangout' that person.

"Audrey! Haven't seen you in forever!" Skye says, excitedly, pulling herself up to a comfortable position.

"Long time no see," Audrey says, smiling, then her smile fading as they share pleasantries for the next couple minutes.

"Remember that freak, my stalker?" Audrey finally asks.

Skye nods. It had happened just before she's lost contact with Audrey, and she regrets not being there for a friend/mentor/companion during that difficult time. She was the first person ever to make her feel at home, the only one until 'A.C.' came along.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. came by my door today, he's dead," she says, a sad smile on her face.

S.H.I.E.L.D.? S.H.I.E.L.D. and she was not informed?

"What! That can't be. I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Skye exclaims, before quieting herself down realising anyone could hear her.

"Agents Simmons and Triplett. You know them?" Audrey asks, her brownish hair falling off her shoulders, as she moves in her shock.

"They're on my team," Skye says, realising Marcus Daniels to be her stalker.

"Did they tell you about Phil?" she asks, a wistful tone in her voice.

"Phil?" Skye asks in shock, putting the pieces together.

"Agent Phillip Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was my boyfriend. He died in the Battle of New York. The things life does to true love," Audrey sighs, she'd always been a romantic.

Phillip Coulson? Skye thinks, My boyfriend?

This is awkward, she thinks.

And then she realises A.C. had hidden the truth of his life status from Audrey. He doesn't want her to know, she realises.

So she just talks to Audrey on a daily basis, discusses Agent Triplett behind his back (he was assigned as Audrey's 'handler' just to make sure resurrection didn't happen) and how Audrey had decided to finally move on, dating Triplett.

They laugh about how Audrey bugs Triplett's computer for fun (he knows) so that she can track his history.

It's how Skye gets the tip-off.

**Present Day**

Skye's gun is pointed at Triplett's temple. It's no ICER.

Triplett holds both hands up in surrender as Beckett comes in, with her fully loaded gun.

"Tell me!"

Triplett sighs.

"Answer me!" Skye demands again, putting a bullet through his computer to stop the signal.

Triplett gives her a look, finally saying, "He contacted me, wanted me to give him insider information so he can relay the accurate amounts of information to each government agency."

"You're helping Hydra!" Beckett concludes.

"What? God no!" Triplett argues.

"You were trying to take over the entire investigation," Skye finds out.

"Well, technically, yeah. I mean you and Coulson were too busy having your little affair to-"

"Hold on! You betrayed our team because of a little ro-"

Suddenly alarms ring.

"Someone's entering Hydra from inside S.H.I.E.L.D.," Skye explains, "And it looks like it's coming from the lab!"

Skye takes out a pair of handcuffs and handcuffs Triplett, putting him at gun-point as they walk to the lab.

Jemma looks terrified as she holds an ICER to Fitz's chest.

"He's a traitor! He accessed the Hydra database!" Jemma shouts.

"I was, but I was just trying to find out the bloody secrets around here! You knew Jemma, you knew May was terminally ill with Coulson's disease and you said nothing about it! Beckett!" Fitz roars to the fright of everyone around him, "the NYPD contacted Hydra Councilmen to hand over the case to them! Skye, you have an encrypted line to an 'A.N.'. Triplett! You've been talking to Hydra Traitors! It's all in the Hydra database!"

Beckett puts the gun to Skye.

"What's the encrypted line about? Answer me!" Beckett loses control.

"Audrey Nathan. She's an old friend of mine!" I shout. Suddenly another alert springs in the lab.

"It's the Director! He's spiking!" Jemma says in horror, reading one of her lab screens, "You've got to let me go help him!"

Skye's face is totally unreadable.

"Hello, Agent Ward," says a woman he didn't expect to see ever again.

"May, is that really you?" Ward asks, moving closer to touch the woman in front of him as she suddenly crumbles to dust. Ward jumps back in his shock.

"Good to see you back, son," Garrett says, as Kensington follows behind him.

"Sir," Ward greets.

"Still a soft touch I see," Garrett says, smirking, "The Avengers are in room 9-3-4. You can join them for the next mission."

"Briefing, sir?" Ward says, attempting to hide his clenched fist.

How had he dealt with that man for almost all of 15 years?

Garrett looks at him.

"Charlene, care to give him a briefing?" he says, as he walks away.

She looks at him, smiling deviously.

"Agent Ward, what is the first rule of undercover?" Kensington asks, looking straight into his eyes.

"Never get attached to anyone or anything," Ward replies. It's been a ingrained in him for the last ten years, and he's certainly past the refuse-to-kill-dog stage.

"Good, remember that," Kensington says, "Now, we have information that S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken over the investigation. We cannot allow this, because they still seem to pride themselves as the Avengers' mother hen. I need you to transfer the case to the NYPD. I will then contact some people in the NYPD to transfer the case to the Avengers."

The motives were obvious. The Avengers were being controlled. Them being put in charge of the case meant it would just turn cold.

"And," Kensington continues, "Don't be afraid to spill blood, in fact, do spill it. But don't waste your resources on Coulson, he's a goner anyway. The Avengers will join you. Operation starts at 9.15 today."


End file.
